He must figure this out, only then can he continue forward.

If it is confirmed that the "Final Signal" from fifteen years ago was received by the Empire, then even at the cost of being branded a rebel on the spot, he must immediately return and let the Source Star System, with its lone weak star, become an enemy of the Empire.

In such a case, Ren Zhong couldn't be certain to what extent they could struggle, and the prospect was grim, but there was no choice. The best possible outcome might be to push technological advancements to their potential limits so the Empire cannot bear the cost of annihilating the rebellion, perhaps buy some survival space for a while, but eventual defeat is essentially certain, as limited resources dictate limited potential. Even the most advanced theories cannot be converted into warfare capabilities in the absence of resources, just as a tiger trapped in a cage, no matter how strong it gets, is helpless against a hunter standing outside with a gun.

An intuition from deep within told him that perhaps the moment the fleet flew two light years away from the Source Star, everything would change, with no way back.

Or, if there was some unknown accident fifteen years ago, and the desperate pleas of the veterans never got sent, only then could he continue to head to the South Nine Star.

But even in that case, without Resurrection Reset, the outlook remains bleak.

"We don't even know what other advantages we might have, sigh..."

Sun Ai saw him in this state and found herself at a loss, silently regretting.

She originally wanted to divert his attention to cheer him up, but it backfired and added fuel to the fire instead.

"Oh!"

Just then, multitasking, responsible for collecting and quickly analyzing intelligence for the entire fleet, Sun Ai exclaimed in the speaker.

Ren Zhong thought she was trying to distract again and said with irritation, "Don't interrupt..."

Sun Ai hurriedly said, "No, I just received an important piece of information."

"Alright, what's the information? Who sent it? Is it from the frontline?" Ren Zhong replied, not very interested.

He knew it wasn't that the defensive line had already started being attacked.

Even though he had delegated command to Zheng Tian, he was still the Supreme Commander, and such critical battle engagements would automatically play on his communication panel.

So he wasn't particularly concerned about the intelligence Sun Ai mentioned.

"It's from your Third Reconnaissance Army Chief Ding Canghai; the communication medium is radio wave, very important."

"Hmm?" Ren Zhong suddenly sat up straight.

The Reconnaissance Corps at the very frontline had only maintained for four days and had been out of contact already eight days ago.

In those four-plus days, the Reconnaissance Corps could not transmit a single battle report, just silently being picked off one by one.

Whether it was Ding Canghai who went offline early on or other reconnaissance armies that stayed online, the result seemed no different.

The efforts of the Reconnaissance Corps seemed to have prematurely ended during that time.

Thus, Ren Zhong was particularly surprised at this moment.

He did not expect that Ding Canghai, who had gone missing for over twelve days, could miraculously send back a message. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

He pondered for just a second and immediately ordered, "Notify all high-ranking military commanders and staff to convene a meeting at once for a collective discussion."

Since Sun Ai said it's very important, Ren Zhong thought it best for all core personnel to see it first-hand.

Five seconds later, the online meeting commenced.

Immediately after, Sun Ai quickly displayed the most essential part of all the intelligence from the Third Reconnaissance Army.

The most important was a video image captured by a ground-based optical telescope utilized by the Third Army Staff Officer Xiao Wang.

The image showed a pyramid-shaped pentagonal pyramid slowly drifting through space at a leisurely pace. Its calculated height was about a thousand kilometers, and its surface undulated like a living being. Its top spread open like a blooming flower, with huge intestine-like pipelines stretching downward across its surface.

With each movement of these pipelines, puffs of black mist were ejected. These mists dispersed into independent space-faring units, some large, some small.

Synced with the Empire Intelligence Bureau's public information system, Sun Ai provided an information alert that the Tracer Colonist Network function is restored.

"Fourth-class Mother Empress Ship. An ascendant core type with super intelligent mind, telepathic network thinking, strong sub-body splitting ability, integrating resource collection, sub-body production, combat command functions, akin to an ant queen in an ant colony, capable of independently evolving a planet system civilization. A fourth-class Mother Empress Ship, although the lowest among Mother Empress Ships, requires at least the entire South Nine Star Fleet to eliminate after it completes its development and establishes a full Mother Empress Army."